News reports on the discovery of "habitable" planets are highly misleading. What scientists define as habitable just means that conditions may exist that are adequate for life based on carbon chemistry, such as the generic type of life we have on Earth.

Despite any inclination to believe yourself among the brightest bulbs around, new research indicates that even when the universe was considerably younger, there were heavy elements enough to spawn planets that could... spawn life.

The last few years have been heady for planet hunters. First the hot Jupiters; then the will-o'-the-wisp Glieslings and their cousins; and the results from the Kepler mission, one of which is Kepler-22b.